Famous Hitler picture could be fake – and it’s been right under his nose all along

Historians claim Hitler was inserted into the picture after the event (Picture: Getty Images)

A photograph showing a 25-year-old Adolf Hitler reacting enthusiastically to the news that Germany have declared war has been claimed to be a fake – after historians pointed out his moustache was the wrong length.

The photo, which first appeared in the pages of German Illustrated Observer in 1932 – the year Hitler ran for president – bears the caption: ‘Adolf Hitler, the German patriot, is seen in the middle of the crowd. He stands with blazing eyes.’

However, a century on researchers say his moustache is too short, with the young Hitler sporting longer and wider facial hair until he was forced to trim it as a soldier so it would fit under a gas mask.

They add that newsreel footage of the crowd at Odeonsplatz square fails to show Hitler, and the original negative of the picture cannot be found.

Hitler trimmed his moustache when he became a soldier so that it would fit under his gas mask (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Some historians are expressing suspicions that the photo was manipulated, although it is virtually impossible to prove also that it is a forgery,’ said German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

‘Hitler said his desire to be a politician stemmed from that day in Munich. But the story is perhaps just a little bit too perfect.’

Those claiming it is a forgery point to Hitler’s personal photographer Heinrich Hoffman as a likely culprit if it were fake, adding that Hitler makes no reference to the war announcement – which was by his account a life-changing moment – in his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf.